~ in Amsterdam!

Category Archives: Life

Hey there! I have a bit of an administration announcement today: I’m changing the name of my blog to match the shop, Needle and Compass, and moving it over to it’s own site, here. It’s a WordPress site, so you’ll still be able to follow it that way. Or you can also sign up for email subscriptions over there!

The change reflects a bit of a metamorphosis of the blog to focus on both travel and handmade/crafty things. I’d love for you to click through and keep reading! I have lots more Europe travel posts, and several embroidery projects I’m just about to finish, and I’m excited to show you those. I’d also like to post a few embroidered map projects from the shop, so look out for those in the future.

I’ll post a couple more times through The Penny Farthing, just so I don’t accidentally lose anyone. Thanks so much for reading, following and commenting–it’s so highly appreciated!

I crossed something off my “to-do” list last weekend. Amsterdam has a fast food place called FEBO that’s stuffed into areas all over town–usually near a collection of bars. Ever since we moved here I’ve been promising myself that I need to try it. It was a necessity! Why did it take me so long? Because the food comes from a vending machine.

This is strange to me. In my head I know it’s freshly made (well, ‘freshly’) and placed in the slots to keep warm until I come along. But my eyes want to say, “Are you crazy? That’s a vending machine!” So I required a lot of time and a night out to said bars before I worked up the courage to try it. Luckily for you it was well documented, so you can get the full feel of FEBO without the actual food.

The selection is a mix of traditional dutch food like krokets with the normal fast food burgers. There’s also a counter where you can order fries and smoothies and other made-more-fresh things. I went with the machine-food, of course. Jesse selected a kroket and I a burger, and we stuck our coins in the slot. After the “clink” I pulled open the little door and took out my prize. (I also learned that you must open the bottom door–the others stay locked.)

The verdicts. The kroket: yum! Crunchy and hot, full of meat-gravy goodness. I would get that again anytime. The burger: not so yum. It tasted like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for a good long while. Which it had been. Surprise, surprise.

“FEBO– the most delicious!”

So, our FEBO experience was good and bad, like so much of life (what a life lesson I learned.) At least now I can say I’ve eaten a burger from a vending machine! I like to gauge reactions of my visiting friends when I tell them about it. Some have tried it gleefully, right away, while some have given me faces and swore they’d never touch it. What do you think–would you try FEBO?

Happy Summer! I thought I’d take this day to show some pictures of one of my favorite day trips we’ve taken, to the magical theme park of Efteling. Back when our friend Kerry was visiting we took a train and bus ride down south for a roller-coaster-and-cotton-candy-filled day.

Efteling is one of the oldest theme parks in the world: it opened in 1952 (before Disneyland!). Walt Disney toured Europe’s parks before opening his own, and many people claim he took a lot of inspiration from Efteling. The connections are pretty clear: Efteling has different ‘worlds,’ each with a different theme and plenty of corresponding rides. It’s also overrun with screaming children, long lines, lots of junk food, and a few dioramas.

The Efteling lake with the “Flying Pagoda”

The park isn’t huge, and we felt like we did it justice in one day, even getting multiple rides in. Our favorite ride, by far, was Joris en de Draak (Joris and the Dragon), a double wooden roller coaster. The two tracks run parallel almost the whole way, meaning you get to race your fellow riders. We rode it three times, and won every. single. time. Clearly we’re amazing.

Waiting in line for Joris en de Draak

Other fun rides included the Flying Dutchman (of course!) due to a section of terrifying complete darkness followed by an immediate drop, and the fast metal Python. Besides the rides, my favorite part was the cotton candy! It’s called suikerspin in Dutch, which means ‘sugar-spin.’ Figuring there were three of us we ordered the supersuikerspin and were awarded with the biggest cotton candy stick I’ve ever seen! Which we promptly devoured in five minutes flat.

We also took a short stroll through the Fairytale Forest, or Sprookjesbos, where we saw Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Mother Hubbard in her shoe, and more. One display including a gentlemen with a very long neck, who’s story I’m still unclear on. Must be a Dutch one? Has anyone heard that one in English?

His neck ‘grew’ while we watched!

Efteling was designed almost entirely by the famous Dutch illustrator Anton Pieck, popular for his nostalgic, romantic, fairy-tale drawings. They did such a good job bringing the illustrations and characters to life that stepping into the park is almost like entering one his drawings. It was an exhausting, fun day that was totally worth it! If you have an extra day in the Netherlands, with or without kids, I highly recommend Efteling.

I’m taking a little break from Edinburgh at the moment. My favorite part about blogging is the chance to look at the little things in life and appreciate them, day to day. When I get so caught up in multiple posts about our trips, the here and now tends to fade into the background, and I forget to appreciate it. So here’s a few photos about our weekend, which was nothing special, but still lovely.

The sun played hide and seek with giant fluffy clouds all weekend, teasing me into thinking it was warm then fading away again. But when it was out, it was gorgeous. I spent a few hours on two separate days sitting on a dock by a canal, eating, drinking, and chatting.

That white drink is a new, delicious creation of mine. I had a bottle of too-sweet white wine in the fridge, so I mixed it with bubbly water and put a couple halved cherries in it, and voila! A perfect dock-sitting summer drink. And if I’ve learned anything from Amsterdam, it’s that plastic cups won’t cut it if you want to make something special–only the best for me and my friends.

I relaxed in the sun, caught up with a friend, snacked on delicious things, and waved at boats as they passed. On one occasion a man went by in a boat, alone. He waved, and we waved back. Fifteen minutes later he came back the other way, this time with the addition of six women with him, all smiling. When we waved this time, impressed with him, they cried out, “isn’t he lucky?” We laughed and agreed, toasting his luck.

The EuroCup games are going on, for all the football/soccer fans here. I’ve caught glimpses of some games, but haven’t followed it too emotionally, which is good, because the Netherlands are losing quite miserably. My favorite part is all the cheery orange bunting out everywhere, and the rallying cry, “Hup Holland!”

It’s the end of the weekend now, and it’s pouring rain again, but I can hope for more sun soon!

We’re back from Edinburgh! It was such a lovely trip, and I can’t wait to share photos and stories from all the things we did and tried.

Amsterdam welcomed us back with gray skies and rain…sigh. But after the twisty streets of medieval Edinburgh, the regal houses and placid canals of this city were a calming sight. And after a long day of travel it’s always nice to be home.

I threw out old flowers and bought new this morning–it’s a habit I’ve given up fighting. The buds were closed at the store, but once I got them in water at home they immediately relaxed and spread out. Just like all of us, I think. Traveling is so stimulating and exciting, but there’s nothing like your own little corner of home to let you truly relax.

I’m spending a day doing just that (while admiring my blooms) before going through all our photos! Can’t wait to share them!

Whew! It’s been busy here lately! And with a trip planned and a few more friends visiting (one is suddenly very popular when one lives in a foreign city), it doesn’t promise to let up anytime soon.

But I have so many things to post about! Our trip to Belgium, our visit to a Dutch theme park, small towns in Holland, and more. Tomorrow I add even more to that list, as we’re flying off to Edinburgh, Scotland!

Jesse turns the big 3-0 (today!), and picked Edinburgh as the perfect birthday present. I’ve heard only great things, and since our wonderful time in London I’ve been excited to explore another corner of the UK. We leave tomorrow for five full days of whiskey-tasting and city-exploring. I do have a few posts scheduled while we’re gone, and then I’m going to do my best to post all my stories and pictures of the places we’ve been!

For now, I’m off to celebrate a birthday. Wish us luck in Edinburgh–any great tips?

Summer has arrived here, in full swing for the past two days. I’ve dug my flip flops out of hiding and remembered to slather on sunscreen, and Jesse and I have been doing our best to be outside a lot. Because really, it’s been a rotten spring. My poor parents had horrible weather for their visit, and even our friends last week had to wear jackets and carry umbrellas!

But summer is here (for now), and I’m enjoying it completely. I’ve made iced tea, we’ve eaten salads for dinner, and I already cut off a pair of pants into shorts. Because that’s what you do in summer.

It’s been fun watching Amsterdammers embrace the sunny weather. This city, though it be covered in rain and mist most of the year, is made for nice weather. It’s awash with cafe terraces, canal sides, benches, and green spots, all inviting you to sit…relax for awhile. As soon as the sun pops out everyone does their best to be outside. The number of boats on the canals has tripled, and the cafes have unfurled their outdoor tables and umbrellas. The same thing happens in Portland on a sunny day, but somehow Amsterdam embraces it in a different way. It’s all just a bit more…gezellig.

On our evening walks I’ve gotten a kick out of seeing people on every balcony, sitting on their front stoop, hanging out a window, or pulling a table outside for the family dinner. Beers are enjoyed on a canalside terrace while the sun slowly drops behind a building. The light lingers for a long time lately–it’s already past 10, and the sun is just now setting. The sky is lit with pink and orange, and it reflects off the canals as the smell of something grilled wafts by.

It’s summer in Amsterdam.

(These pictures are both from last summer, as I’ve been too enraptured by the sun the past few days to bother carrying my camera anywhere.)

This was really exciting, because food carts are a pretty big deal in Portland, and I used to eat at them no less than three times a week. Moving to Amsterdam held a lot of new exciting things for us, but I still miss food carts and their cheap, delicious offerings. So when I saw the ad for the festival I knew I had to go there. It was lucky that our visiting friends were up for it, because we went on Friday, then again on Saturday! There were just too many choices to try them all in one go! We still didn’t try everything, but we made a heroic effort.

A few impressions. First, I love the name. Rollende Keuken: rolling kitchens. Perfect! Second, these carts were swanky! All dressed up, decorated, and tricked out. The sushi cart had a moving belt, the omelet cart had a coop with live chickens, there was a boat-cart, a church-cart, many buses, a VW bug, and more! All serving delicious food.

Oh, my, what a long break from blogging! Sorry for the silence, friends. My days have been chock-full of showing my parents around Amsterdam and beyond, eating a lot of treats, and walking. It’s not over (on Friday we leave for Belgium!), but before you all abandoned me for other corners of the internet, I wanted to check in.

A few things we’ve done: taken the classic canal boat tour, tried copious samples of cheese, snacked on chocolate, stroopwafels, pastries, olives, bread and more cheese, visited the cute town of Edam, tried to feed intimidating swans at Keukenhof, and popped by Haarlem and Leiden. Whew, no wonder my feet are so tired.

It’s always fun to show off your favorite places! We’ve been having a fall-asleep-exhausted-by-night sort of fun time. I’ll soon be posting all about the new places I’ve been (Flower Auction! Volendam! Keukenhof Gardens!), but for now you’ll have to excuse a bit more silence while I go snack on some more goodies. It’s what we do. Clearly.

The biggest and most famous grocery store chain in the Netherlands is Albert Heijn, the “Ah-ha (AH)”, found on almost every street corner. Our local one is just down the street and is always busy. The chain was founded in 1887, and you can even go visit the museum in Zaanse Schans (yes, a grocery store museum.)
I’m mentioning this because the store’s 125th anniversary is this year, and in honor they’ve rolled out a new campaign.Not always understanding Dutch or following the local news leaves me clueless to events at times, like when I suddenly started receiving little toys with my groceries, for every €15 I spent. I opened up the package to find a tiny box of macaroni, just like the real one on the shelves. In keeping with the Dutch habit to diminutize everything, they’re Albert Heijn minis, itty bitty groceries. You can collect all 51!

This cracks me up. What cracks me up even more is that it’s a big deal–a seriously big deal. The Dutch version of Craigslist is flooded with requests for trading, or the entire set for sale at a steep price. My au pair friend threw some away (because really, what do you do with mini-groceries? The Dutch are usually so practical!), to the risk of her health when it was found out. Families are on missions to collect all 51 mini-groceries, from the Fanta can to the loaf of bread to the jar of Nutella.

In other news, my parents arrive tomorrow morning! I’m so excited, even if I’ve spent all day cleaning. There’s nothing like your mom visiting to make you realize how dirty your apartment is. They arrive bright and early tomorrow for more than a week of fun around Amsterdam. We’re even going to Belgium! So forgive me if my posts are a big slow for the next week, but I’ll be back soon with news of Antwerp and Ghent.